


Identity

by dralexreid



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:02:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27042421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dralexreid/pseuds/dralexreid
Summary: The BAU is called to Montana to investigate the case of three abducted and murdered women. When another woman disappears, the search leads to a man who has apparently assumed the identity of his partner who committed suicide. Piper learns to deal with her wound.
Relationships: Dr Spencer Reid/Dr Piper Bishop
Kudos: 2





	Identity

Piper had her go-bag slung across her left shoulder, struggling to keep the bag and her cup of tea level. Her arm only hurt slightly less and Hotch hadn’t cleared her for the field, meaning she was stuck in the office for a few days. She’s managed to convince Hotch to take her on the flight though. Anderson was headed straight for her, head stuck in his files. He bumped into her left shoulder, turned around to apologise profusely, only to see her about to fall. She only winced louder as he pulled on her right arm to steady her, as her bag slipped to her elbow again and she dropped her tea on his foot. “Anderson!” Piper yelled out.

“I’m so sorry Agent Bishop. Please forgive me.”

“It’s fine, let me grab a paper towel for you.” She rummaged for the paper towels in the kitchen and passed them to Anderson. As he straightened, she noticed the tea staining the front of his shirt. “Jesus, your shirt.” She pulled out another towel to an oblivious Anderson and rubbed his shirt as Derek walked past, whistling. Readjusting her bag, she ran after Derek. “Not a word, you hear me. If I hear that Garcia heard even a word of that, you will know every word of Wuthering Heights as I bash it into your skull, you hear me.”

“I didn’t see anything.”

“What’s happening?” Reid asked from his perch on Emily’s desk.

“Nothing,” Piper said quickly. “Do we have a case?” 

“We’re waiting on Rossi,” Emily added, eyebrows furrowing, watching as Piper dumped her bag next to her desk. “Shouldn’t you be resting?”

“Yeah, it takes 10 days for a gunshot wound to heal just on the surface. You should go home.”

“I’m fine, I cleared it with Hotch. I’m flying there and staying at the station the whole time.”

“You didn’t look fine back there with-” Derek was met with a flying rubber band ball. “Jeez, okay.” Derek’s smile melted away as he gazed at the open door to Rossi’s cabin and he started walking up.

“Where are you going?”

“Away, I hope,” Piper muttered.

“In your dreams, sweetheart.”

“If I’m dreaming about you, that’s gotta be a nightmare. And don’t call me sweetheart.” Emily got up to follow him to Rossi’s office.

“You shouldn’t go in there!” Spencer called at them.

“Don’t you wanna know who this guy is?”

“I do…I have it all memorised, his book, his bio-”

“Exactly, the guy’s sold millions of copies.”

“So?”

“So I figure that’s a million reasons not to be here.”

“Derek, do you ever think about something other than money?” Piper asked from the stairs.

“Yeah, girls.” Piper rolled her eyes from her lean against the cabin door.

“Huh,” Emily remarked. “Taupe walls. That’s a negative colour. Cold, distant. You know, emotionally, Taupe is linked to loneliness and the desire to escape from the world.” 

“I just figured the guy’s walls would be covered with plaques and commendations.” 

“Maybe he doesn’t want to be reminded of past victories. It’s a new chapter for him.”

“Or maybe, he’s just moving in today and hasn’t had time to redecorate. Just a theory,” Piper shrugged.

“Guys,” Spencer complained. “What happened to the moratorium on inter-team profiling?“

“Oh come on, Spence, you profiled Derek last week.”

“Wait, what?”

“Oops,” Piper smirked, putting a finger to her lips. Spencer glanced at the framed painting in Derek’s hand.

“Looks like some type of religious art. Original, maybe? Definitely expensive.

“It’s renaissance art. If that’s original…” 

“Is it?” He simply shrugged, passing the painting to Piper.

“15 bucks, I give a spot-on profile,” Piper smirked at Derek, egging him on.

“I’m a sucker for a good bet. Fine, you’re on.”

“Well, he’s certainly rich enough to own an original. I’d guess between 14th to 16th century. Means he’s into the classics. Italian-American brought up Catholic, but not a strict upbringing if you look at his career.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Well, strict Catholics often don’t pursue careers commonly perceived as pseudoscience. If they do, they start to lose their faith a little. Especially this job. If he had a strict Catholic upbringing, he’d be doing something less…violent.”

“The injured lady speaks the truth.” Piper smiled at Rossi’s dramatic entrance. “Catholic, yes. Italian-American, 52 years. Strict upbringing, not so much. Now, the artwork, that’s 15th century, original. Cost more than my first house. And as for the wall colour, it’s just a base coat. Painters will come in and finish tomorrow. Now, if you’re all finished, I think JJ and Hotch are ready for us. Isn’t that how a team works?”

“Cough up, Derek.” Derek grudgingly handed over the bills and Piper slipped them into her pocket.

Four women were missing, 3 of them dead. Spencer sat in front of Piper who flipped through the photographs of each crime scene.

“You know, if you wanted a colouring book, I could’ve gotten you one at the airport.” Piper snickered at Emily as she rubbed her shoulder gently.

“I’m creating a topographical map, weighing down and geocoding all key locations looking for algorithms.” 

“Yeah. That’s exactly what I thought you were doing.” 

“It’s called a jeopardy surface. It’s a way of narrowing down where the unsub could reside. And by default, where he may be stashing Angela Miller.”

“You okay Pipes?” JJ glanced over at her.

“Fine,” she said curtly. “It says here the guy had a fully loaded gun, so we know he had options. Why the grenade?” 

“He wants to be remembered and he wanted to be sure to take as many cops with him as possible.”

“He knows he’s outgunned.” Derek ambles over from the coffee machine. “So he waits. Times it to the last second. Boom!” Piper put her file down, leaning back in the chair.

“How many?”

“How many what?”

“How many cups of coffee have you had?”

“2…” Piper stared at him.

“Don’t make me call Garcia.”

“Okay, 5,” he muttered.

“Give.” Derek whined. “Give!” She raised her voice and handed his cup to JJ.

“Yeah, well, there are some very committed people in those parts,” Rossi added.

“Who loves their firepower,” Hotch continued.

“Almost as much as they hate us.”

“Yeah, Montana’s best feature is the landscape and that’s all I’ll say about that.”

“Don’t forget the BBQ,” JJ said, holding out a fist for Piper who bumped hers.

“So how’d they get the grenades in the first place?” Piper asked, turning to Morgan.

“Militias.”

“And they’re heavily armed,” Reid added, dabbing at his map in red.

“Yeah, but hand grenades? It’s not uncommon for militia members to have military experience. Oftentimes, they resent the structure and they get discharged, And they form their own paramilitary governments.”

“Yeah, like with…” Piper trailed off, making eye contact with Rossi and changing tack. “Um... Nazi Germany, a lot of their supporters were paramilitary troopers angry at the Weimar Republic which has no relevance to the case, sorry.”

“Dental records are on their way to Garcia,” JJ interrupted. “I’ll tell her to check the military first.”

“Prentiss and I will go meet the husband,” Hotch ordered. “Derek, you and Rossi walk the abduction sites. Piper…”

“Stay at the base, set up, I know.”

“Reid, stay with her.” He looked up, like a deer in headlights, glancing between the two.

“Sorry,” she mouthed to him.

At the precinct, Piper started tacking up photos of all the victims, her right arm automatically reaching up. But the pain washed over her again and she dropped the photo, clutching her shoulder, wincing. Spencer got up immediately, rushing over and pushing her aside as he picked up the photo. “I’m fine.” She grabbed the photo from him and stood on the nearest chair, unthinkingly to tack up the photo. Only the chair slid on its wheels out from under her and she collapsed. Directly into Spencer’s arms, her lips inches from his. He let her down gently and she brushed her hair out of her face.

“Just let me help you.”

“No.” She tried to organise the scattered files on the desk, her shoulder throbbing in pain. “I don’t need any help. You should go find Derek, help him with the sites.”

“Piper, please-”

“I don’t need anyone’s help.” Her voice raised an octave, quivering on the final word. “Sorry.” She said quickly and quietly. “I’m…um… I’m useless right now. Do…Do you want coffee?” She made to walk away except she felt a hand wrap around her wrist, pinning her in a rapidly shrinking room with the tall, handsome doctor.

“You aren’t useless. Pipes, you’re in pain. But you don’t need your shoulder to think.” She turned around, meeting Spencer’s warm eyes. “Don’t make me see you in pain. Please.” Piper pulled her hand away quickly, nodding.

“I’m gonna go…make the uh..coffee.”

“I’ll…tack up these umm… pictures,” Spencer said hastily, rubbing the back of his neck. Piper dashed to the coffee stand, only to bump into the glass wall. She apologised to it, before she rushed off again, muttering a quick hi to JJ as her friend walked into the room. Spencer smiled to himself, bookmarking it in his archive of Piper Bishop moments. 

“Hi, this is Agent Jareau with the FBI, and…” JJ said into the phone, but the line went dead. “That’s the third time I’ve been hung upon.” 

“Try not saying FBI. Who was that?” 

“Contact for a local militia newsletter.” 

“Yeah, drop the FBI Part.” 

“A woman is missing. You’d think these people would want to help us.” 

“They do want to help. The missing woman, not us.” Garcia’s call informed the trio that their criminal was, in fact, a military man. Francis Goehring, 42 years old who did a year in the army But for a bad conduct discharge. The highlight of which was an arrest during a bar brawl In which three other people were hospitalised. 

_“He also appears in the federal database For… get this, aggressive militia groups.”_ Piper snorted.

“Is there another kind?”

“ _Uh-huh. That’s your federal government at work. We specialise in redundancy.”_ Piper snickered.

“You see an address there?”

“ _A compound just outside of town. It’s coming your way. Oh, he also has a wife that doesn’t appear to live with him. Diane Marie Goehring, Lives in Shelby a few hours away.”_

“We can have state police bring in the wife, I’ll call Rossi, he can join Reid at the compound while I’m stuck on desk duty. Thank you, my Aphrodite.”

^-^

“So how’s Piper doing?” Rossi asked the young doctor as they sat in the SUV.

“Antsy. She hates desk duty.”

“Mmm. Can’t blame her. She doing okay?”

“She’s about as stubborn as Hotch trying not to smile.” Rossi didn’t notice the smile spreading across the young man’s face. “She’ll be fine.” The car stopped and Reid exited, making his way up to the heavily signed house. A burly man wearing a denim over-shirt walked up to the screen door and looked the agent up and down.

“What are ya doing here? Didn't read the signs?” The man drawled. Reid squinted at the man behind the mesh.

“I’m not a salesman, I’m with the FBI.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me. You look like a pipe cleaner with eyes. I could snap you like a twig. ” Spencer rolled his eyes as Rossi slid into the frame, holding up his own badge. 

“We’re here because this was the listed address for Francis Goehring,” Rossi snapped.

“I haven’t seen him in months.”

“We’d like to see his residence.” The man started to turn away from Rossi until the latter pulled open the screen door and confronted him. “Francis Goerhing killed and abducted 3 women, another’s life is on the line.” He pulled out the picture of their latest victim. “Francis took her while her husband and son were in the grocery store. This isn’t about us, It’s about a woman from your community.” 

“I’ll show you his place.” The man grudgingly stepped past them, stopping by Spencer before saying, “Piece of advice, pipe cleaner, Way you’re wearin’ that gun… Beggin’ someone to take it off you.”

They looked through the apartment together, Reid sorting mail, Rossi looking through the bed. “Odd choice of reading material. Looks like something Piper would read.”

“Speaking of uh… reading material, I’ve read all your books.”

“Thanks.”

“One thing that struck me though, was you sort of just glanced over what happened at Ruby Ridge.” Rossi just stared at him. “You don’t have to tell me…” He trailed off as Rossi regarded the trunk by Goerhing’s bed. Grudgingly, he dialled Piper, reading out the titles of his reading material. “The History of Medieval Feudal Society and Spanish Inquisition.”

“ _So you need a common link? Well, medieval feudal society was heavy on male dominance, much like the Spanish Inquisition. The latter was developed to abolish heresy within Spain, enforcing religious orthodoxy. Medieval feudal society was all about maintaining power over peasants and women. If he was reading that as a hobby as a curious mind, nothing wrong but-”_

 _“_ Considering his military background, probably not.”

“ _More than that, he demanded subjugation of the lower classes. Especially if he was uneducated. Need anything else?”_

 _“_ No, Pipes, thank you. Oh, I almost forgot,” Rossi added. “The neighbour called Reid a pipe cleaner with eyes.”

“ _Oh nooooo. You’re not serious? Morgan’s never gonna let him forget it. Hey, Reid, just to make you feel better, you’re a very pretty pipe cleaner. The prettiest of them all. ‘Kay, Pipes out.”_

“Rossi!” Spencer flushed, snapping his cell shut. The older agent just snickered, resuming his search through the trunk before crying out,

“Hello!” He pulled out a set of “Home movies,” glancing up at Reid.

Piper sat criss-cross on the desk as Reid sat on the floor, Rossi and Emily on chairs, staring at the small TV. 

_“An earthly kingdom cannot exist without the inequality of persons. Martin Luther understood the weak will always serve the strong. Like me. He had dreams. And ideas.”_

“He isn’t seriously comparing himself to MLK, is he? Even I feel offended.”

“It’s funny, he uses the chair like it’s a throne and he’s framing himself intentionally with a low angle to give him power and dominance in the frame.”

“Reinforces feudal values,” she scoffed.

_“In feudal times, the lord lived on high ground to spot the invader. He had serfs to serve his kingdom. The lord never had to leave his castle. The serfs would bring him everything. They were the appendages of his will.”_

“Yeah, they also had to wake at dawn and ate pig’s bladder.” She muttered under her breath. Only Spencer heard and Rossi crossed his eyebrows at his snickers.

“There are 11 tapes of this.”

“Yeah, his manifesto.”

“Except he doesn’t have a leg to stand on.” Piper scoffed. “I’m gonna let Hotch know this guy’s a royal douchebag.”

“Something up with her?”

“She can’t tolerate the abuse of sacred principles, not with psychology, literature or history.” Rossi nodded sagely until Spencer mentioned she used to be a history teacher. That confused him. What was a history teacher doing in the BAU?

The rest of the team filed out to the position Mrs Goerhing had pointed out, leaving JJ and Piper behind. JJ pulled out a bag of Cheetos, offering some to Piper, who refused. “How do you do it?”

“Hmm?” JJ asked through a mouth full of Cheetos.

“How do you stay so calm, knowing everyone else is out there?”

“I don’t. I hate this feeling. Same thing you’re feeling. Guilt, helplessness, uselessness.”

“Oh, please. You’re the least useless person on the team. You’re the reason we’re here in the first place.” JJ smiled. “I’m just sorry we don’t mention it a lot.”

“I try.”

“Listen, are you free Friday?”

“Sure, why?”

“Don’t tell him, but Derek’s birthday is next week and I’m helping Garcia plan something massive.”

“Oh yes, I’m so in!”

“Perfect. I’ve got Rossi down for a bottle of wine, Hotch is getting him a new watch, I have Reid down for a sweater vest that he’s gonna hate and a secret I can’t tell anyone-” Piper was interrupted by a call. She flipped her cell open and chirped her hello. “What’s up, Spence?” A pregnant pause fell in the air as Piper’s smile melted. “Shit,” she cursed. “Wait, what do you mean it’s recent?” She cursed again. “Mhmm.” Piper blinked. “Okay, and Spencer…Be safe.” JJ heard the pleading in her voice as did Spencer. “They want you out there, JJ. They need you to talk to the militia leader. Derek’s gonna be with you.” They were interrupted by an officer.

“Ma’am, I’m here to take an Agent Jareau to an address?” JJ stood up and made her way over.

“JJ!” Piper called out. “Stay safe.” JJ smiled, nodding and Piper watched her leave with the officer, alone. She rubbed her shoulder, but that wasn’t the part that was throbbing.

Hours passed and all Piper was getting were staggered updates of bad news. She’d had at least 4 cups of tea since JJ left and was now staring at the board. She jumped off of her perch on the table to finger a photograph of Goehring and called in the deputy. After thanking the deputy, she called Spencer immediately. “Every kingdom needs a land, one they can easily defend.”

_“Yeah, that’s part of his manifesto, so?“_

“So, Goehring’s partner can’t go to his trailer or Goehring’s house. He needs to go to the ideal kingdom.”

_“Which is?”_

“Glad you asked. Black Eagle Peak, the sheriff will know where it is. One other thing. A lady running a gas station just called. Identified a man looking just like Goehring kidnapping a young woman. We identified her as Jennifer Hillbridge, has a fiancee.”

“ _Thanks, you’re the best.”_

“Don’t I know it. Be safe.” The line went dead and Piper clutched her stomach, getting that horrible feeling that she sent her best friend hurtling to his doom, as one does when hunting serial killers.

The officers watched the young woman pace around the little room, perching herself on tables, sitting in corners on the floor or racking her brains for something that could help. Until finally, she picked up the phone, running a hand through her hair, a smile beaming on her tired face. They saw her hug the other agents, threaten her boss with homicide if he ever put her on the bench again and hug him too. As they got home, Anderson saw her massage her shoulder and punch Derek for making fun of her. That night, no-one saw her tears falling as she froze in her dreams, watching each agent, each family member collapsed in front of her, hand wrapped tight around her right shoulder.


End file.
